ECNL Weekend Recap March 23-25

It was a light weekend of ECNL action with another showcase coming soon in San Diego at the end of March. But one particular matchup from the latest action renewed a rivalry.

Last year, FC Stars of Massachusetts U18s saw its national title hopes dashed by PDA out at the ECNL nationals in Colorado.

On Sunday, FC Stars were able to secure a small measure of revenge, defeating PDA 2-1, as the Stars played its first action of 2012 over the weekend.

“We’ve been looking forward to this game since nationals in Colorado,” U18 head coach Jason Dewhurst told TopDrawerSoccer.com. “The lead up the last couple weeks has been real intense in training and they’ve been constantly been thinking about this game. I won’t say it was revenge, it’s just the chance to put something right.”

FC Stars took a 2-0 lead thanks to a pair of goals by Hayley Dowd, before PDA pulled one back with about five minutes left in the game. Both sides had chances after that, and PDA came close to equalizing, hitting the crossbar before FC Starts held on for the win.

2010 ECNL Semifinal

“We knew it was going to be a good game, it was back and forth, end to end, chances on both sides,” Dewhurst said. “They’re a very, very good team.”

Unfortunately for FC Stars, the entire weekend wasn’t a good one. With the PDA game on Sunday, a matchup against World Class FC only ended in a 1-1 draw. Morgan Andrews scored to give FC Stars the lead, but World Class scored with just about a minute to go.

But the hiccup Saturday ended up adding fuel to the fire for Sunday’s grudge match.

“We knew we had to bounce back from the disappointment from Saturday and make sure we took care of business on Sunday and they did,” Dewhurst said.

Other action at the U18 age group saw PDA win its other match of the weekend, dropping Scorpions SC 5-0. Crossfire Premier took out Pleasanton Rage 3-1 out in the Pacific Northwest, while Mustang SC beat Washington Premier 3-0.

FC Delco picked up an important win; defeating East Coast rivals Bethesda SC 3-0 on Saturday. The hosts scored twice within the first 10 minutes of the game through Linnea Faccenda and a Tayler Jamison penalty kick. A lengthy injury break threw the game off track, and with FC Delco still up two, Lauren Mengel cleared a Bethesda chance off the line. Alexandra McKinley scored to put the game away.

“We did a good job of high-pressuring them and not letting them get in a rhythm,” FC Delco coach Nick Chrisanthon said. “FC Bethesda’s a very technical team and we did a good job of disrupting them.”

Albertson Fury snuck past East Meadow by a 1-0 score…FC Stars of Masschusetts went unbeaten, beating World Class FC 2-1 and drawing 1-1 with PDA.

Bethesda SC won 2-0 on the road over FC Delco thanks to goals from Izzy Latour and Jordan Coburn. Catherine Granville set up both tallies for Bethesda, who continued to put pressure on conference leaders Ohio Premier and FC Virginia with the win.